The word huaca (also waka) is a quechua word that refers to an ancient site or sacred place. To huaquear is 'to loot'...huaqueando - looting. This site is dedicated to providing a graphic image of destruction of archaeological sites caused by looting.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Painted walls and fleshy limbs

Looting at a site near Eniminga, Huaura Valley. Left, you can appreciate adobe walls that are plastered and painted yellow. These are heavily disturbed by numerous pits dug with shovels. Their exposure will contribute to their rapid destruction.

Above, part of a human burial. The looting was relatively recent, since the bone still has flesh on it. There is a small piece of basketry mixed in, probably a grave good that accompanied this person.Photos by Margaret Brown Vega, 2010.

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Looting/Huaqueando

You will find photographs of archaeological looting, primarily from coastal desert sites in Peru. Because of the dry conditions, many things preserve well on the Peruvian coast. Unfortunately, looting and other forms of site destruction have thrashed large areas of the coast. The images here are intended to show, very graphically, what looters do to the sites, and to the remains of ancient peoples who once lived in these places.M. Brown Vega